Thursday, December 13, 2012

"A Galactic Holiday" Blog Tour

Without a doubt, the novellas found in Carina Press’s sci-fi holiday anthology, A GALACTIC HOLIDAY, have a multitude of out-of-this-world concepts sure to please even the pickiest sci-fi fan. But in between space raiders, androids and interplanetary assassins, there is one thing these stories have in common—love. And while the hearts and flowers are definitely there, we’re talking about the kind of love hot enough to melt the ice on Pluto!

To give us a glimpse of what smexiness is going on in the future (and proving this blog should probably be subtitled “Lust in Space”) take a look at an intimate teaser from each novella found in A GALACTIC HOLIDAY!

Anna: It doesn't matter if a romance is contemporary or futuristic, set on Earth or on some distant ice planet, it needs some smexiness! In WINTER FUSION, my rival trade negotiators, Brinn and Savan start off disliking each other…intensely…but beneath the fiery arguments something else is simmering. It takes a string of accidents, where they only have each other to depend on, to bring that desire to the surface.

Snippet from WINTER FUSION:

Her hand opened, her palm pressing over his heart. Then her fingers traced a lazy circle over his skin.

Did she know what her innocent touch was doing to him? This was Brinn Fjord. She hated him. Maybe they’d taken the steps to understand their past animosity, but he couldn’t read anything into this. No matter how much he wanted to.

He felt the brush of her lips on his skin. Her breasts were flush against him, her nipples hard. His body ignited, his cock so hard he was in pain. He swallowed a groan.

Then she sat up and straddled his lap.

Her slim legs slid along his hips. The warm, private part of her brushed over his engorged erection.

He sucked in a breath, his gaze searching her face. Molten desire burned in her ice eyes. Her lips parted and her cheeks flushed with color.

Savan surged up and cupped her face. He tangled his hands in her hair, tilting her head back. “You’re teasing me.”

A brief smile, all too feminine. “I wanted to see just how noble you’d be.”

He was known for giving no quarter at the trade tables. “I’m not noble.”

The smile widened, flashing straight white teeth. “You are. More than you realize.”

When she lifted her hips up, then sank back against him, the mind-blowing sensations scattered his thoughts.

“I want you.” She leaned forward and nipped the point of his ear. “We could have died in the explosion, the crash, in the snow. I want to know I’m alive.”

Desire warred with his brain. “ We've been through a lot. I don’t want to take advantage of you.”

“See, noble.” Her hands slid over his shoulders, tracing the lines of muscle. “I want to explore this warrior’s body, find what touches make you groan. And then I want you inside me.”

Her words fanned the flames. He struggled for control. “We shouldn't do this. There are reasons.” He was sure there were reasons. They just escaped him right now.

Sasha: I had a great time with Leo and Riley. They were such strong, vivid characters and their chemistry was hot and fast. While she was grappling with a whole world of weirdness, her attraction to Leo was something Riley could cling to – and she does. Leo, on the other hand, is completely thrown-and completely overwhelmed-by Riley. The results are pretty awesome.

She stared down at her chest, the taut tips of her nipples clearly visible. She wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s cold, Leo.”

He pulled her against him, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. “I can fix that.”

She tilted her head back, way back, and sighed against the weight of his mouth. It shouldn’t feel like this. She knew it. But it did.

And it felt right.

She wrapped her arms about his neck, murmuring. “I’m going to get grease in your hair.”

“Uh-huh.” His words were a whisper on her neck.

“Oh, for crying out loud.” Rex was laughing. “Give it a rest. Food’s waiting.”

She felt Leo laugh, his arms heavy about her waist.Looking at him, seeing his smile—she didn’t want to give it a rest. She didn’t even want food, not right now, anyway.

“We’ll be along in a bit, Rex.” She didn’t look at Rex.

Rex chuckled. “Alrighty.”

Leo watched her closely, but didn’t say anything.

Once Rex’s footfalls were only a faint echo on the metal stairs, she spoke. “Leo. I need you to know that I don’t like this.” Her hands tightened on the back of his neck, savoring the warmth and feel of him. “You make me feel things I don’t want to feel.”

“Oh?” His brown eyes flashed.

“No.” She shook her head. “But I know things will get back to normal when the storms move on. You’ll go back to running meds, or whatever it is you do, and I’ll figure something out. You’ll go one way, and I’ll go the other.” She stood on tiptoe, her heart in her throat at the hard line of his jaw. “And then I won’t have to worry about feeling anything anymore. Until then…”

He picked her up, gripping her hips as he set her on the edge of a worktable. His hand cupped her cheek, and his lips brushed hers. “We’d better make the best of it, for now.”

Stacy: Writing about Reina and Edison having the hots for each other was SO easy. Right off the bat these two obviously had a combustible chemistry, though Reina was a bit pig-headed about the whole deal. Thankfully Edison, that futuristic knight in heavier-than-human cyborg armor, understands that a woman who’s difficult to kiss, is DEFINITELY a woman worth kissing.

Snippet from HOW THE GLITCH SAVED CHRISTMAS:

“Um. Detective.” She heard his muffled snort, which confirmed her suspicion that standing on formality at this exact moment in time was, in fact, hilarious. “Remember when I told you this was strictly medicinal?”

“Uh-huh.” Edison leaned into her with a heady threat so blatantly masculine it made her heart trip over itself. Then he rubbed against her in an all-over body caress that made it scorching hot within her frictionsuit, and as giddy excitement surged through her like a drug she had to reconsider the whole swooning business as a viable option. “Praise me. I’m taking my medicine like a big boy.”

Big boy. Reina’s mouth went desert-dry as she tried not to notice a bulge starting to swell against her abdomen. But facts were facts. As his body warmed, there was no doubt that Edison Wick was indeed a big boy. “Here’s the thing. I also said not to get excited.”

“Yeah…about that. I’m going to have to disappoint you on that score. And in my defense, you have to take some of the blame for being so damn sexy you should be declared illegal.”

“I’m just trying to warm you up.”

“Congratulations, you’re doing a bang-up job of it.” His head lowered, and his eyes drifted shut as he brushed his face over her hair. “God, Reina. I didn’t know you smelled like heaven and sin all rolled into one. If I had, I would have done this a lot sooner.”

She pulled in a breath to ask him what he was doing when his mouth slid down her cheek to unerringly capture her lips.

Thanks so much for having us over today, Viviana! We hope everyone enjoys reading our little snippets from A GALACTIC HOLIDAY as much as we enjoyed writing them (and we did enjoy writing them, can you tell? ;) )